Ice maker construction

ABSTRACT

A removable drive connection for the harvest auger of a continuous ice maker having a combined auger and press, has a tapered bored portion extending for a greater portion of the length of the harvest auger and a coaxial threaded portion in comunication with the tapered bored portion forms a means for threading a compression auger to the harvest auger for corotation therewith. A correspondingly tapered drive shaft is keyed to the tapered portion of the harvest auger and is removable therefrom by removing the compression auger and threading a puller screw in the threaded portion of the harvest auger thereby to exert a compressive force on the end of the tapered shaft and pull the harvest auger from the shaft.

United States Patent 1191 Swanson 14 1 Mar. 19, 1974 [73] Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Mich.

[22] Filed: July 12, 1972 [21 Appl.No.: 270,9 S0

52 us. c1. 62/354, 100/145 51 Int. Cl. F251; 5/12 [58] Field of Search 62/344; 100/145, 146, 147,

562,491 6/1896 Schoup 287/53 R 3,702,543 10/1972 Lyman 1 62/354 3,396,554 8/1968 Westerclamp.. 287/5205 2,510,644 6/1950 McCormick 287/5205 Primary Examiner-William E. Wayner Assistant Examiner-W. E. Tapolcai, Jr.

Attorney, Agent, or FirmHill, Sherman. Meroni, Gross & Simpson 57 ABSTRACT A removable drive connection for the harvest auger of a continuous ice maker having a combined auger and press, has a tapered bored portion extending for a greater portion of the length of the harvest auger and a coaxial threaded portion in cornunication with the tapered bored portion forms a means for threading a compression auger to the harvest auger for co-rotation therewith. A correspondingly tapered drive shaft is keyed to the tapered portion of the harvest auger and is removable therefrom by removing the compression auger and threading a puller screw in the threaded portion of the harvest auger thereby to exert a compressive force on the end of the tapered shaft and pull the harvest auger from the shaft.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 1 ICE MAKER CONSTRUCTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the drive and connection means of a continuous ice maker facilitating the removal of the augers from the drive shaft therefor.

BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the forms of commercial ice making machines in which ice products are produced by continuously harvesting and compressing an ice flake product formed on an internal refrigerated cylindrical wall, sized to cooperate with helical flights of a rotatable harvesting auger and operative to transfer the ice flake product to an axially aligned compression chamber and auger, compressing the ice flake product into a hard column of ice which can be sized and shaped or cracked to product cracked ice as desired, as is shown and described in US. Pat. No. 3,662,564, Clearman et al., and in co-pending applications Ser. No. 39,774 filed on May 22, 1970 by Phillip H. Turner and entitled Water System for an Ice Making Apparatus" and Ser. No. 39,775 filed on May 22, 1970 by John B. Lyman and entitled Ice Making Apparatus" and now US. Pat. No. 3,702,543, dated Nov. 14, 1972.

In such ice makers, the harvest auger is threaded'on its drive shaft and the compression auger is threaded in the top of the harvest auger. It is a relatively simple matter to remove the compression auger from the harvest auger, and it is sometimes desired that the harvest auger also be removable from its drive shaft for servicing purposes. One manner in which this has been done is to provide a tool with fingers that lock into the flights of the auger, and having a long handle and pipe for leverage, for turning the auger to unscrew it from its drive shaft. This requires a great deal of pressure and puts undesirably large forces on the teeth of the reducer gearing driving the drive shaft, and may even damage the flights of the harvest auger by the turning forces placed thereon.

The foregoing disadvantages are remedied by the present invention by providing a method of assembly wherein downwardly directed forcesdeveloped during the ice making process are utilized for maintaining the harvest auger, compression auger, and drive shaft in a tight, positively assembled relationship. In the present invention this is accomplished by providing a tapered drive shaft for the harvest auger and keying the shaft to the auger, and then screwing the compression auger into the top of the harvest auger. When the ice maker is operating, downwardly directed forces will be applied to the harvest auger from harvesting the ice and from the compression auger as it forces ice upward. When removing the harvest auger, in the present invention the compression auger is replaced by a threaded bolt threaded in the threaded portion of the harvest auger for receiving the compression auger, and acting in the manner of a wheel-puller to pull the compression auger from its shaft.

Tapered shafts and keyed drive connections from tapered shafts to driven members are known in the art, as for example, in FIGS. 5, 6, 9 and 10 of the Turner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,228, and in the patents to Andrade, Jr., US. Pat. No. 985,491; Odlum et al., US. Pat. No.

1,857,211; Fink et al., US. Pat. No. 2,706,502; and Zeller, US. Pat. No. 3,005,324. None of these patents, however, have any teaching of utilizing downwardly directed forces developed in the ice maker for making tight tapered shafts and key drive connections, particularly in which two coaxial augers are threaded together, and the large diameter harvesting auger is driven from a tapered shaft to greatly facilitate the disassembly of the two augers and avoid damage heretofore caused to the harvesting auger and drive mechanism therefor due to large diameter of the auger.

The advantages of the present invention, therefore,

are in the utilization of downwardly directed forces de veloped in the ice maker for achieving a tight, positive assembly, and the simplification of the assembly and disassembly of the harvesting auger from its drive shaft and the reducing of the likelihood of damage to the harvesting auger and its drive mechanism. Another advantage of the present invention is the provision of the harvesting auger with a through-bore, a portion of which is tapered and a portion of which is threaded, for carrying a compression auger resulting in a simplified assembly and disassembly of the augers and a material reduction in time requiredto repair the machine.

A further advantage of the invention is in the improved method of driving the harvest auger from a tapered shaft through a key to enable the harvest auger to be selectively pulledfrom its shaft.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an ice maker with certain parts broken away and certain other. parts shown in vertical section in order to illustrate the drive connection to the harvest auger and from the harvest auger to the compression auger of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a composite sectional view showing the compression auger separated from the harvest auger and illustrating the method of removing the harvest auger from its drive shaft.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, an'ice maker 10 is shown as including an evaporator unit 11 having an internal bore forming a cylindrical wall 12. An evaporator passageway 13 extends about said cylindrical wall and may be connected with a conventional refrigerating system through the usual expansion valve (not shown). Water is introduced into the evaporator internally of the wall 12 through an inlet conduit 15 disposed near the base of the evaporator unit. The water entering the evaporator unit tends to freeze on the wall 12in the form of a thin film of ice which is harvested from the wall and advanced in the form of particles of iceincluding slush and chunks upwardly along the unit by helical scrapers 16 extending about a cylindrical wall 17 of a harvesting auger 18 as in the aforementioned] Lyman application Ser. No. 39,775 now US. Pat. No. 3,702,543. The helical flights or vanes 16 extending outwardly of the rotating harvesting auger l8 advance the ice particles toward a collection chamber 19 superjacent the evaporator unit 11 and extending upwardly therefrom. As auger 18 rotates, the helical flights 16 scrape ice from wall 12 and force it upwardly. This, in turn, causes a downwardly directed force acting to secure auger 18 tightly assembled on a tapered shaft 23 as will appear.

The evaporator unit 11 has a radially outwardly extending flange 21 extending from its lower end and forming a means for mounting said evaporator unit on the top of a drive housing 22. The drive housing 22 contains reduction gearing for driving a vertical shaft 23 extending coaxial of the axial center of the evaporator unit and driven from a motor 24 driving a drive shaft 25 rotatably journalled in said housing. The vertical shaft S is suitably journalled in the drive housing 22. In accordance with this invention and as shown in FIG. 1, the shaft S has a tapered portion 23 and has a keyway 27 extending therealong, for a rectangular key 29.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the harvester auger 18 has an internal central hub 30 depending from a top wall 31 of said auger and having a correspondingly tapered bore 32 therein for receiving the tapered shaft 23. The tapered bore is of uniform taper and extends for a greater portion of the length of the hub 30 and terminates at its upper end into a cylindrical wall 36 which in turn terminates into a threaded cylindrical wall 37 opening to the top of said auger.

When assembling the harvesting auger on the shaft 23, the harvesting auger is placed along said shaft 23 with the key 29 in engagement with the key-way 27 in the shaft and harvesting auger. The auger is then seated by striking it with a rubber hammer, to lock the assembly together.

The collection chamber 19 is formed in a generally circular or inverted cup-shaped cap means 40, receiving the ice flake product from the harvesting auger 18 as in the aforementioned application Ser. No. 39,775 filed by John B. Lyman on May 22, I970 now US. Pat. No. 3,702,543. The collection chamber 19 serves to conduct the flake ice product discharged from the evaporator unit 11 upwardly into a central passageway 43 leading into an internal passageway 44 of a compression and forming nozzle 45. During operation of the ice maker a downwardly directed force is applied to the harvest auger from the compression auger 48 compressing the ice upward and out of the nozzle 45. Then nozzle 45 has a radially outwardly extending flange 46 secured to the cap means 40 by nut and bolt assemblies indicated by reference numeral 47, and an upper flange 45a to which may be attached a breaker member to make cubes or a knife blade to make cracked ice as desired.

In order to compress the flake ice product harvested from the refrigerated surface 12 into a solid ice product which may be broken into short lengths to form cubes or cracked to form cracked ice, a compression auger 48 is coaxial with the harvesting auger 18 and is threaded thereon for corotation therewith. The compression auger 48 is of a generally frustoconical form having a helical flight 49 extending therealong to the top thereof and spaced inwardly of, but generally conforming to the internal wall 44 of the compression nozzle 45.

The compression auger 48 has a base 50 having a threaded stud 51 depending therefrom and threaded in the cylindrical internally threaded wall 37 of the through bore extending along the hub of the harvesting auger l8.

It should here be understood that the compression auger 48 is maintained in threaded engagement with the harvesting auger 18 by the downward forces on the vane 49 of the compression auger and the torsional forces generated during the ice compression operation. Upon removal of the compression auger from the harvesting auger by turning movement thereof in a lefthand or counterclockwise direction, while holding the harvesting auger from rotation, assuming the compression nozzle has been removed from the evaporator chamber, the compression auger may be removed from the harvesting auger in substantially the same manner as in the aforementioned Lyman application Ser. No. 39,775 now US. Pat. No. 3,702,543.

As shown in FIG. 2, the compression nozzle 45 has been removed from the cap 40 and the compression auger has been removed from the harvesting auger by turning movement of said compression auger in a counterclockwise or release direction, to unthread the stud 51 from the internally threaded cylindrical wall 37 of the through bore extending through the hub of the harvesting auger.

When it is desired to remove the harvesting auger from its tapered shaft 23, and the compression auger has been removed from the harvesting auger, as shown in FIG. 2, a puller bolt 55 having a reduced inner end portion 56 is threaded in the internally threaded cylindrical wall 37 to engage the reduced end 56 of said puller bolt with the end of the tapered shaft 23. Turning of the bolt in a clockwise direction, assuming the threads are right-hand threads, will thus exert a compressive force on the end of the tapered shaft 23 and pull the harvester auger therefrom. It is, of course, understood that the bolt need only be turned a distance sufficient to provide clearance between the external tapered wall of the shaft and the internal tapered wall of the through bore, as shown in FIG. 2, at which time the entire harvesting auger may be lifted from the shaft 23.

Upon removal of the compression auger 48, to remove the harvest auger 18, it is merely necessary to thread the'puller bolt 55 along the cylindrical threaded portion 37 of the internal bore of the harvest auger, to enable the end of the tapered shaft 23 and pull the harvesting auger therefrom and thereby relieving the harvesting auger and its drive gearing from all twisting stresses during removal, and avoiding the possibility of damage to the auger and the drive mechanism therefor when it is desired to remove said auger from its drive shaft.

Generally, then, there has been disclosed an improved ice maker construction wherein forces developed in the ice making process are utilized for maintaining a harvest auger and compression auger in tight assembled relationship with the drive shaft. The compression auger and harvest auger are readily disassembled without damage to the harvest auger and drive mechanism.

Although I have described my invention by reference to a particular illustrative embodiment thereof, many changes and modifications of my invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and I intend to include within the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as may reasonably and properly be included within the scope of my contribution to the art.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In an ice maker of the auger type and in combination with an evaporator chamber and a compression nozzle extending thereabove,

a harvest auger rotatably mounted in said evaporator chamber and having helical vanes to elevate harvested ice to said compression nozzle,

a compression auger in said compression nozzle threaded to the top of said harvest auger and compressing the ice supplied thereby,

means for driving said harvest and compression augers including a drive shaft, means extending for a greater portion of the length of said drive shaft forming locking tapered surfaces between said harvest auger and said drive shaft,

means accommodating ready removal of said harvest auger from said drive shaft upon removal of said compression auger from said harvest auger comprising a puller member and releasable. threaded connections having selective rotatable engagement between said compression auger and said puller member.

2. The ice maker of claim 1, wherein the interengaging releasable threaded connections comprise screw threaded connections, and wherein the puller member cooperating with said screw threaded connections is a bolt threaded along said harvest auger into engagement with said drive shaft to pull said harvest auger therefrom upon turning movement of said bolt in a tightening direction.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, an auger having a central bored portion extending therealong for the length thereof, and a portion of said bored portion being tapered and the balance of said bored portion being cylindrical in axial alignment with said tapered portion,

a second auger concentric with said first auger and extending therefrom,

helical interengaging connections between said second auger and said first auger inclined in planes tending to tighten said second auger to said first auger by the torsional and downward forces on said augers,

said second auger being removable to turning movement relative to said first auger to release said interengaging connections,

and a puller member interengageable with said interengaging connection and axially movable upon turning movementthereof to exert a compressive force on said tapered shaft and a pulling force on said first auger to remove saidauger from said shaft.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the helical interengaging connection is a threaded connection, and wherein the puller member is a bolt threaded in said threaded connection into compressive engagement with the end of said tapered shaft.

5. In an ice maker of the auger type and in combination with an evaporator chamber and compression nozzle extending thereabove,

a harvest auger rotatably mounted in said evaporator chamber and having helical vanes to elevate har vested ice to said compression nozzle,

a compression auger in said compression nozzle detachably secured to the top of said harvest auger and compressing the ice supplied thereby,

means for driving said harvest and compression augers including a driveshaft, means forming locking tapered surfaces between said harvest auger and said drive shaft, and

means for holding the harvest auger and the compression auger in locked engagement respectively with the drive shaft and the harvest auger during ice maker operation, said holding means including threaded means projecting downwardly from said compression auger and threaded in said harvest auger for developing a downwardly directed force on said harvest auger and drive shaft during an ice maker operation,

means in addition to said tapered locking surfaces preventing rotational movement of said harvest auger with respect to said drive shaft duringan ice maker operation and a puller member for threading in said harvest auger into engagement with said drive shaft for removing said harvest auger from said drive shaft. 

1. In an ice maker of the auger type and in combination with an evaporator chamber and a compression nozzle extending thereabove, a harvest auger rotatably mounted in said evaporator chamber and having helical vanes to elevate harvested ice to said compression nozzle, a compression auger in said compression nozzle threaded to the top of said harvest auger and compressing the ice supplied thereby, means for driving said harvest and compression augers including a drive shaft, means extending for a greater portion of the length of said drive shaft forming locking tapered surfaces between said harvest auger and said drive shaft, means accommodating ready removal of said harvest auger from said drive shaft upon removal of said compression auger from said harvest auger comprising a puller member and releasable threaded connections having selective rotatable engagement between said compression auger and said puller member.
 2. The ice maker of claim 1, wherein the interengaging releasable threaded connections comprise sCrew threaded connections, and wherein the puller member cooperating with said screw threaded connections is a bolt threaded along said harvest auger into engagement with said drive shaft to pull said harvest auger therefrom upon turning movement of said bolt in a tightening direction.
 3. In an apparatus of the class described, an auger having a central bored portion extending therealong for the length thereof, and a portion of said bored portion being tapered and the balance of said bored portion being cylindrical in axial alignment with said tapered portion, a second auger concentric with said first auger and extending therefrom, helical interengaging connections between said second auger and said first auger inclined in planes tending to tighten said second auger to said first auger by the torsional and downward forces on said augers, said second auger being removable to turning movement relative to said first auger to release said interengaging connections, and a puller member interengageable with said interengaging connection and axially movable upon turning movement thereof to exert a compressive force on said tapered shaft and a pulling force on said first auger to remove said auger from said shaft.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the helical interengaging connection is a threaded connection, and wherein the puller member is a bolt threaded in said threaded connection into compressive engagement with the end of said tapered shaft.
 5. In an ice maker of the auger type and in combination with an evaporator chamber and compression nozzle extending thereabove, a harvest auger rotatably mounted in said evaporator chamber and having helical vanes to elevate harvested ice to said compression nozzle, a compression auger in said compression nozzle detachably secured to the top of said harvest auger and compressing the ice supplied thereby, means for driving said harvest and compression augers including a drive shaft, means forming locking tapered surfaces between said harvest auger and said drive shaft, and means for holding the harvest auger and the compression auger in locked engagement respectively with the drive shaft and the harvest auger during ice maker operation, said holding means including threaded means projecting downwardly from said compression auger and threaded in said harvest auger for developing a downwardly directed force on said harvest auger and drive shaft during an ice maker operation, means in addition to said tapered locking surfaces preventing rotational movement of said harvest auger with respect to said drive shaft during an ice maker operation and a puller member for threading in said harvest auger into engagement with said drive shaft for removing said harvest auger from said drive shaft. 